On the occasion of the 2014 World Refugee Day, historian Dana April Seidenberg presents a series of photos showing the resilience of Palestinians in the face of perpetual despair in Beirut’s refugee camps of Sabra, Shatilla and Bourj el Bourajneh.

The images are reminiscent of scenes from underserved Nairobi neighborhoods with streets teeming with hawkers and traders, busy surviving on a few shillings a day. But unlike Nairobi, the inhabitants of these camps yearn to return to the land of their ancestors. Some 450,000 refugees are registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Lebanon.

These refugees refer to themselves as ‘forgotten people’. Sixty-six years of living in overcrowded camps while managing to survive on limited resources within a restricted legal, economic and social system is a long time to wait!